Passive smoking and its effect on your health

How many times have you just accompanied your friend for a “sutta break” even though you do not smoke. Sometimes, as a subordinate , you are forced to be a part of the break. As a wife, you often sit in the car while your husband smokes. Young children get uncomfortable but do not condemn parents for smoking because they love unconditionally and of course the unborn baby in the mother’s womb can’t do much about the choking smoke. Did you know that being a passive smoker puts you at greater health risks than the smoker itself!

Second-hand smoke is made up of sidestream smoke (which comes from the burning tip of the cigarette) and exhaled mainstream smoke (which is directly inhaled through the mouth end of the cigarette), mixed with the surrounding air.

Sidestream smoke is about 4 times more toxic than mainstream smoke, although people inhale it in a more diluted form. This is because sidestream smoke contains much higher levels of many of the poisons and cancer-causing chemicals in cigarettes, including:

At least 3 times as much carbon monoxide

10-30 times more nitrosamines

Between 15–300 times more ammonia

Breathing in other people’s smoke, also called second-hand smoke, can cause cancer. Passive smoking can increase a non-smoker’s risk of getting lung cancer by a quarter, and may also increase the risk of cancers of the larynx (voice box) and pharynx (upper throat).
Second-hand smoke can cause other health problems too, including heart disease, stroke and breathing problems.

There is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke causes numerous health problems in infants and children, including more frequent and severe asthma attacks, respiratory infections, ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Smoking during pregnancy results in more than 1,000 infant deaths annually.
Some of the health conditions caused by secondhand smoke in adults include coronary heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer.

Secondhand Smoke Causes Cardiovascular Disease
Exposure to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and can cause coronary heart disease and stroke.

Secondhand smoke causes nearly 34,000 premature deaths from heart disease each year in the United States among nonsmokers.

Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25–30%.

Breathing secondhand smoke can have immediate adverse effects on your blood and blood vessels, increasing the risk of having a heart attack.

Breathing secondhand smoke interferes with the normal functioning of the heart, blood, and vascular systems in ways that increase the risk of having a heart attack.

Even brief exposure to secondhand smoke can damage the lining of blood vessels and cause your blood platelets to become stickier. These changes can cause a deadly heart attack.

People who already have heart disease are at especially high risk of suffering adverse effects from breathing secondhand smoke and should take special precautions to avoid even brief exposures.

Secondhand Smoke Causes Lung Cancer

Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer in adults who have never smoked.

Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing lung cancer by 20–30%.

Secondhand smoke causes more than 7,300 lung cancer deaths among U.S. nonsmokers each year.

Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke are inhaling many of the same cancer-causing substances and poisons as smokers.

Even brief secondhand smoke exposure can damage cells in ways that set the cancer process in motion.

As with active smoking, the longer the duration and the higher the level of exposure to secondhand smoke, the greater the risk of developing lung cancer.

Secondhand Smoke Causes SIDS

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden, unexplained, unexpected death of an infant in the first year of life. SIDS is the leading cause of death in otherwise healthy infants. Secondhand smoke increases the risk for SIDS.

Smoking by women during pregnancy increases the risk for SIDS.

Infants who are exposed to secondhand smoke after birth are also at greater risk for SIDS.

Chemicals in secondhand smoke appear to affect the brain in ways that interfere with its regulation of infants’ breathing.

Infants who die from SIDS have higher concentrations of nicotine in their lungs and higher levels of cotinine (a biological marker for secondhand smoke exposure) than infants who die from other causes.

Parents can help protect their babies from SIDS by taking the following three actions:

Do not smoke when pregnant.

Do not smoke in the home or around the baby.

Put the baby down to sleep on its back.

Secondhand Smoke Harms Children

Secondhand smoke can cause serious health problems in children.

Studies show that older children whose parents smoke get sick more often. Their lungs grow less than children who do not breathe secondhand smoke, and they get more bronchitis and pneumonia.Wheezing and coughing are more common in children who breathe secondhand smoke.

Secondhand smoke can trigger an asthma attack in a child. Children with asthma who are around secondhand smoke have more severe and frequent asthma attacks. A severe asthma attack can put a child’s life in danger. Children whose parents smoke around them get more ear infections. They also have fluid in their ears more often and have more operations to put in ear tubes for drainage.

Parents can help protect their children from secondhand smoke by taking the following actions:

Do not allow anyone to smoke anywhere in or near your home.

Do not allow anyone to smoke in your car, even with the window down.

Make sure your children’s day care centers and schools are tobacco-free.

If your state still allows smoking in public areas, look for restaurants and other places that do not allow smoking. “No-smoking sections” do not protect you and your family from secondhand smoke.

This WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY lets take a pledge to make everyday Tobacco free!

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Dr Pooja Chhawcharia is the Senior Nutritionist at eKincare with over 7 years of experience in Nutrition education, diet counseling and research. She is a Registered Dietician with the Indian Dietetic Association and Certified Diabetes Educator recognized by the International Diabetes federation . She is also interested in ancillary sciences such as Yoga and Naturopathy.